*Crickets Crickets* anyone still there?

So hey there blog and anyone that actually still checks this place!!! Long time, no see :) I'm not sure what has exactly brought me back to this place, but it might be the fact that I'm avoiding doing homework, there is nothing good on TV, and I've seen all of our movies a billion times. But I'm glad I'm back!! To say I've been a bad blogger is to say the least (if I can even call myself that. Let's be real, I haven't been real constant with this place ever really). I promise to be around more as I plan to start using this place frequently to document life...ya know when I have time from said life! I guess I should update everyone on said life...again if anybody still reads this dead place.

I moved back to Portland after my last post and I'll be honest, I had a blast! I love that place and it helps that my family and best friends are there! I think all the shenanigans will have to be another post or two so check back soon for that.  But while in Portland, I soon noticed something was missing. I tried to ignore it, but it wouldn't go away; no matter how much fun I was having. and I noticed it was Erich. If you know me, I'm totally not that mushy gushy girl that believes in fairy tales, misses people, or even believes there is "the one"; so it was hard for me to admit that I knew I had made a mistake and that all I wanted was Erich. And believe me, I asked myself all the time if it was just because we were newly broken up or if it was because I truly wanted to be with him for the rest of my life. Thankfully, my heart and my mind both told me it was the second one :) With that said, I decided I had to come back and that it must be for a reason. So I brought along my friend Cait (my best if you don't know) and we had an epic adventure.

Here is just a preview of the beautiful places/things we saw

I'll do a whole post on the trip, but I was so glad to finally have a friend on this drive as I've driven those roads now twice by myself. I was able to see the trip with new eyes because she was there and was so excited about everything!

So I've been back since the middle of May and have enjoyed the summer so much! Camping, rafting, playing with Bella, family get togethers, more camping, getting engaged, hiking, and berry picking. Oh did you see what I did there?! How I snuck in I got engaged?! I thought we were just going on one of our normal rafting/camping trips, but boy was I wrong!

Here is just a quick snip-it of the beginning of the proposal. 

Ignore the bad sound, he recorded it with his GoPro.

It was perfect for us! Just him, the dog and me doing what we love to do together! So now we're trying to plan the wedding..who are we kidding, we haven't planned a thing! Other than the fact that we want it to be like a big vacation for our friends and family while we happen to get married one of the days. File us under: No Drama, Tons of Fun, No Fuss, Party, Tropical Vacation. There is a little part of me that totally wants to craft the crap out of a wedding, but the beach wedding obviously trumps my crafting side!

Other than that, I just started Fall term after taking Summer courses (P.S. remind me to tell you that time I took a 6 week math class. It's a really good time...NOT!). I'm taking 5 classes which seem like they should go smoothly and will be pretty easy to get good grades in (P.S.S. remind me not to take classes that end at 6:50 PM). I just started a coffee hut job a week ago and I actually really like it! I'm a nerd like that and love to make really awesome foam on milk to make the perfect latte. I've been working mornings before I head to class and weekends and I think I can make pretty good tips which is a plus. Then I interviewed for two PT student position at UAF, which one went really (P.S.S.S. remind me to tell you that time I was 50 minutes late for an interview and my interviewer was an old woman with a buzz cut except for her curly rat tail. I bet you can guess which one did not go well!) and she said she was really interested, so I'm hoping ill be getting the offer this week. So yes, that means I will have two jobs and will be going to school full time! Call my crazy, but I thrive in busyness and turn into a sloth when I've got nothing going on. Speaking of sloths, you should probably check out this video below. It makes me laugh every single time!!!

If you don't find this even a little funny, we can't be friends!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ba7rRfKIHxU 

I guess that's about it for right now, as I'll try to write about previous events that happened to lead you up to the current moment. Hopefully, you'll be seeing posts about New York, Ohio, Florida/Disney World, Portland, the drive back to Alaska, and any other little tid bits! I'm debating if I want to maybe post some outfit of the day posts since I now have to actually get dressed and leave the house. We will see how that goes because I think I might have to whip out my real camera to take full length quality pictures and I'm kinda (okay really) lazy about uploading pictures off my camera. I'm gonna try though! And I'm going to leave you with two pictures I took today because who doesn't love pictures!

Beautiful fall day in Fairbanks, AK

 The cutest little mushroom I ever did see

Hugs and Luvs, 

Nicki

changes

Well there has been a lot of changes. Last time I updated I was still training for my half marathon, went to a wedding, Vegas and camped.

Well my half marathon went terribly (for me at least). When I was training, I was running under 9 minutes miles even on my really long runs. For the half marathon, I averaged almost 12 minutes miles. Why you ask? well, first off, it was freezing cold that morning. I don't think my body was used to running in the cold like that. Secondly, the terrain that I was running on was much different than what I was training on. I trained on pretty much small gravel and dirt roads with the occasional paved road. The terrain for the half was on larger gravel and paved roads which I think affected my ankles/calves. Thirdly, I drank poweraid and water at the stations and I normally don't/can't drink anything while running because it makes me sick. Honestly, I was doing great until mile 9 and then it went downhill....FAST. I was running my 9 minute miles and was feeling good and strong. Then something happened after mile 9. My legs just no longer wanted to run or move. It was an uphill battle from mile 9 to the finish line. At one point, I even thought about quitting but I knew I just had to finish and I couldn't stop. The worst part for me was literally being passed by all those people I had passed during the first 9 miles. After I pushed through the finish line sprinting (literally the last effort I could muster), I collapsed on the other side & immediately started stretching while my friend Kate cheered me on and took pictures of me.

I then had to drive 30 minutes home and when I got home, my legs were so tired, I could barely walk to the door. I actually hoped that Bella would break out of her kennel and come and carry me off to bed haha.

Next up, I announced I'm moving back to Portland. I plan on finishing up my degree while working a part time job. Not really sure what will happen with my life, but I am A-OK with that! My last day at work is the 29th and I will be heading out on my adventure around the 1st or 2nd.


Then I leave for New York on the 8th to visit this guy:

That's Kevin (if you don't know). He has been my constant best guy friend since high school. He's been there for me through it all!
Then from new york, i'll fly to Ohio to visit my moms side of the family and my sister. I cannot wait! After hanging out in Ohio for a couple of days, sissy and I will drive to Florida to visit my grandma (dad's mom) and go to Disney World. Lordy I love Disney World, even if it costs me an arm and a leg to get in. Then we will drive back after a couple of days and I will fly back to Portland on October 2nd.

Then possibly a trip to Vegas! Yes, another trip to Vegas. I swear, I've gone to Vegas in the past year than most people ever will in their whole lives. My bestie Jenn and her BF will be celebrating his bday there!

Hopefully, at some point, I'll find a job and get back to school! Right now, my main goal is to enjoy my life back in Portland and get back on track with my life there.

While I'm extremely sad to say good bye to this Alaskan Adventure, I know that my time here was not wasted or unused.

over and out,
Nic

A little of this and a little of that

Well, half marathon training has been going pretty smoothly. I've found that I can't do what is  EXACTLY on the schedule I posted, but I do re-arrange and make the most workouts possible I can. and some days, I just need to be a lazy bum. Like last Sunday when I was supposed to run 8 miles. I think I was only awake for 5 hours of my day and it was glllorrrrious! So needless to say, running was just not going to happen that day and I was totally okay with that. I'll just be skipping right along to those 9 miles I'm supposed to do this Sunday. Other things have gotten in the way of training, like this:

Kate & Stefan's Wedding

 

Going to and dancing my booty off in vegas (hey dancing is a work out!). I'd do a whole post on Vegas, but you know what they say, "what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas" :)

and rafting/camping with my little family

Would I give up any of those moments for a stupid run? absolutely not! With all this running I've been doing, I've had plenty of time to reflect on my life and where its heading. Should be interesting :) Anyways, just wanted to check in and give a quick update. I've found I actually enjoy longer runs than shorter ones. My life is consumed by the almighty school and learning. Trying to keep up on my domestic life (hello dog hair tufts that have been floating around the floors for a day *okay I lied, it had been a week since I swept* & dirty dishes in the sink). Attempting to hang out with old friends while making new friends *why did it take two years to get my own group of friends?! WHY?* Well that's the life update as of current! I'm off work to go be LAZY! aka water my garden, play with the dog, maybe make raspberry jam, pick fireweed for jelly and make dinner :)

Hugs & Luvs,

Nic

13.1 miles

Since I can remember, I've always wanted to run a marathon. I mean, its just kinda plain bad ass to run 26.2 miles! plus, can we talk about the will power to make yourself run that many miles?! Its absolutely crazy. And since I'm not quite crazy enough (yet) to do a full marathon. I'm starting to train for my first half with the thought that if I don't die doing a half, I can do a full marathon!

totally need this shirt while I run!

I've never been a big long distance runner so this will be interesting for me. I think the farthest i've ever ran was 6 miles so i'll have to double that plus a little to get to my half marathon finish line. Normally, I have time goals I want to meet if I am doing a race, but for this half, I just want to finish and do the best I can! So far, I'm on week two of my schedule and I've only missed one work out and that was because I was extremely hung over and was only awake for 5 hours of my day. can we say c-l-a-s-s-y? I ran 4 miles on Sunday and I felt pretty good for most of it, except for at almost mile 2, I was on a path and there was apparently bees. And of course my luck, they followed poor Bella and I for the rest of the 2 miles home. I thought I could out smart the bees and run as fast as I could and they would get lost in my dust...yea that did not happen. They happily floated around Bella and I as if my speed was no big deal. I was sprinting so hard that I started gagging and had to walk while feeling like at any moment I was going to get stung. Not to mention, I probably looked like a crazy person to anyone driving by. I was swatting, flinching, sprinting/walking, tripping over myself and bella while cars were driving by. Yikes!

Anyways, upon further ado, here is my training schedule:

I made some adjustments for when I will be in Vegas and I know I'll make a couple more adjustments along the way. Its just something for me to work off of and that I have a "schedule".

and I just found this plain funny. This is much more "me" than running a half marathon. What can I say? I love me some cupcakes!!!

Hugs & Luvs,

Nicki

Lust & Love

All of the things im currently lusting over!

 Love the gold!

Gold Bracelet

 more gold and oh so pretty red

Red Bracelet

 Seriously NEED this one. I'm still accepting late birthday presents :)

Bangle

 I bought these with my parents birthday money (by the way, shipping cost me my first born child) and they were too big so I returned them for a smaller size. I just got an email saying they are out of my size in that color :( and I can choose a new pair. BOOO i want these ones

Fuchsia Toms

 Since my fuchsia loves are not available in my size, I wanted these. No such luck again. TOMS, you are really starting to get on my nerves. I got a purple pair which are cute, just not as cute as these two!!

Herringbone TOMS

Here is my list of loving it items:


Burt's Bees Citrus Facial Scrub
Love this stuff! I just keep it in the shower and scrub my face with it every other day. It smells like christmas on my face. and my face is baby butt smooth afterwards.Those two things alone make me love this!


Alba Gardenia Conditioner
Random note: Gardenia is my favorite scent. This is so amazing. Why not have your hair smell like gardenia?! plus it makes my hair super soft.

 

Alba Passion Fruit Body Wash

I must smell like a hawaii after all the fragrant stuff I use in the shower. This smells so good! Not a huge lather type of body wash, but it gets me so fresh and so clean clean.

TOMS  Stitch Out

These are the ones I got after both the previous wants were sold out. I have to admit, I love them so. They are definitely worth the hype. Plus I feel good spending a retarded amount of money on the shipping because a child in need got a free pair of shoes out of the deal :)

And thats pretty much all folks! Lusts & Loves. I'll be posting in a couple of days about my training schedule for, wait get this, a half marathon! yes i did just say that :)

hugs & luvs

Nicki